Water BASF Report 2021 Management’s Report – Water 137 example, for extraction or dissolution processes or for cleaning. Emissions to water Here, too, we reduce our demand for water by recycling waste- water. Most of the water used for production purposes is discharged A total of 1,503 million cubic meters of water were discharged from back to water bodies after being treated in our own or third-party BASF production sites in 2021 (2020: 1,429), including 177 million plants. Overall, 78.5% of the water we use in cooling or production cubic meters of wastewater from production. is reused several times. Our wastewater is subject to strict controls and we carefully assess The BASF Group’s water consumption describes the amount of the impact of wastewater discharge in accordance with the applica- water that is not discharged to a water body, meaning that it is no ble laws and regulations. Both internal audits and the responsible longer available to other users. Consumption is mainly attributable local authorities regularly assess whether the analyses and safety to the evaporation of water in recirculating cooling systems. A precautions at our sites comply with internal guidelines and legal smaller amount is from the water contained in our products. Water requirements. consumption in 2021 amounted to around 72 million cubic meters (2020: 63 million cubic meters). Emissions of nitrogen to water amounted to 3,000 metric tons in 2021 (2020: 2,900). Around 12,500 metric tons of organic sub- In 2021, around 25% of our production sites were located in stances were emitted in wastewater (2020: 11,500). Our wastewater water stress areas (2020: 25%). These sites accounted for 1% of contained 17 metric tons of heavy metals (2020: 22). Phosphorus 1 BASF’s total water abstraction (2020: 1%). In water stress areas, emissions amounted to 340 metric tons (2020: 270). we mainly source water from third parties (81%) and largely cover our demand with freshwater. Water consumption in water stress Our approach is to reduce wastewater volumes and contaminant areas accounted for 16% of BASF’s total water consumption in loads at the source in our production processes and to reuse 2021 (2020: 11%) and was primarily attributable to evaporation in wastewater and material flows internally as far as possible. To treat cooling processes. Wastewater in water stress areas accounted for wastewater, we use both central measures in wastewater treatment less than 1% of BASF’s total wastewater. The share of wastewater plants and the selective pretreatment of individual wastewater from cooling processes in water stress areas is lower than for the streams before these are sent to the wastewater treatment plant. BASF Group as a whole. Cooling water is rarely used for once- We use different methods depending on the type and degree of through cooling here. Instead, it is generally recirculated to reduce contamination – including biological processes, chemical oxidation, water demand. Production wastewater in water stress areas is pri- membrane technologies, precipitation or adsorption. marily treated at third-party facilities. In order to avoid unanticipated emissions and the pollution of sur- The supply, treatment, transportation and recooling of water is face or groundwater, we have water protection concepts for our asso ciated with a considerable energy demand. We are constantly production sites in place. This is mandatory for all production plants working to optimize our energy consumption and the amount of as part of our Responsible Care Management System. The waste- water we use, and to adapt to the needs of our business and the water protection plans involve evaluating wastewater in terms of risk environment. and drawing up suitable monitoring approaches. We use audits to check that these measures are being implemented and complied with. For more information, see basf.com/water 1 Aqueduct 3.0 was used to identify sites in water stress areas to determine pro rata water abstraction and water consumption.